


Forty-Four

by kinghinatatobio (redhoodedwolf)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, birthday fic, dear tsukki have a yams, happy birthday tsukishima!!, i just decided yachi was around at this time so idk if she was but SHE IS HERE, like no angst except for the writer cause god you boys are so STUPID just LOVE EACH OTHER, nervous yams as usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 20:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12196929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/kinghinatatobio
Summary: Tuesdays suck.Honestly, they’re just hidden Mondays that you can’t complain about because they aren’t Mondays. It’s too early in the week for you to look forward to time off, it’s yet another day of monotony where you wake up having had school the day before, go through another day, and then go to bed expecting the same thing to happen tomorrow, and the next day, and...So you’d think having a birthday on a Tuesday would be a happy happenstance. Break out of the monotony! Then the entire week is different! But for Kei, when the amount of people who actually care outside of you family adds up to maybe 2.5 (Suga is the .5 because he cares about everyone), the change is basically non-existent.In middle school, the number had been a solid one, so at least he’s improving.





	Forty-Four

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Tsukishima!! Have a Yamaguchi!  
> Originally posted on tumblr!

Tuesdays suck. 

Honestly, they’re just hidden Mondays that you can’t complain about because they aren’t Mondays. It’s too early in the week for you to look forward to time off, it’s yet another day of monotony where you wake up having had school the day before, go through another day, and then go to bed expecting the same thing to happen tomorrow, and the next day, and...

So you’d think having a birthday on a Tuesday would be a happy happenstance. Break out of the monotony! Then the entire week is different! But for Kei, when the amount of people who actually care outside of you family adds up to maybe 2.5 (Suga is the .5 because he cares about everyone), the change is basically non-existent. 

In middle school, the number had been a solid one, so at least he’s improving. 

Yamaguchi was late, as he always was on Kei’s birthday, planning something or other, so it’s Yachi, who makes up the other one person that cares, who greeted him with a nervous yet genuine smile and a bag of chocolates attached to a birthday card.

“H-Happy birthday, Tsukishima-kun!” she declared, maybe a little loudly, causing Kei to wince. She immediately apologized, as expected.

“Thank you,” Kei said and gave her a smile, because he does genuinely appreciate it. He doesn’t need praise or gifts, he’s not that kind of person, he’d be fine with celebrating on his own. But it’s nice of her to do something more than just say well-wishes. 

“Is Yamaguchi-kun not with you?”

Kei waved a hand in the air. “He’s always late on my birthday.”

“Oh!” Yachi squeaked, allowing Kei to pass by her and put his shoes into the cubbies outside the gym before stepping in, the young manager following suit. 

He’s not the first one in the gym, never is with Hinata and Kageyama around, but he’s not even close to the last. He silently cursed himself in his head, wondering if he’d walked just a bit faster today in anticipation.

Anticipation? Of what? 

Yamaguchi stumbled in three minutes before seven, slightly out of breath, but a usual happy grin on his face. He bounded over to Kei as soon as he spotted him. “Forty-four days,” is the first thing he says. “Then I’ll be all caught up again.”

Kei pushed his glasses up his nose. “Statistically impossible. I will always be forty-four days ahead of you.”

“Hmm, true,” Yamaguchi responded, rocking on his heels. “But it never feels like it except for this month and a half.”

“Stupid Yamaguchi, it doesn’t really mean anything, we’re in the same grade.”

Yamaguchi grinned. His arms were swinging at his sides, and one brushed against Kei’s hand. But the touch was purposeful this time, as Yamaguchi curled his fingers around Kei’s wrist, getting him to lock eyes. “Still. Happy birthday, Tsukki.”

Kei pursed his lips. Yamaguchi’s touch made his entire arm tingle, but he had no intentions of pulling away. He hummed his thanks, not trusting his mouth to not say something else stupid if he were to vocally assent. Yamaguchi’s fingers lingered for a few seconds as his eyes traveled down Kei’s face to land on his lips, before both the gaze and the touch left Kei entirely. If felt like an exhale, but one taken underwater--holding your breath would have been much better. 

“But you better watch out, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi said teasingly, forcing Kei to snap his gaze up from the floor over towards the other boy who was beginning arm stretches. “I’m gonna use these forty-four days to be a better sixteen year old than you when my turn comes.” 

Kei smirked and raised an eyebrow, amused. “And how exactly will you do that?”

Yamaguchi’s face was red all of a sudden, and Kei wondered what he was hiding, or if the bravado in his voice had all been a random surge of confidence. He knew that happened to Yamaguchi, sometimes, more often now than ever. 

“I--You’ll j-just have to see,” Yamaguchi stuttered out, casting his eyes away. “Af-after practice,” he added, voice so quiet Kei wondered if he was even supposed to hear that. 

“I’ll look forward to it, then,” Kei said, passing by Yamaguchi as Suga and Daichi waved him over. Kei purposefully dragged a hand over Yamaguchi’s shoulder, squeezing it once. He ignored the shiver he felt under the skin. Not yet. 

Practice was usual, like any other Tuesday. Yet, there was a buzzing under his skin, an awareness of a single voice that felt stronger for some reason. But morning practice always went fast, and then it was time to clean up and get ready for class. Kei changed quickly and Yamaguchi didn’t, as usual. He ignored the shiny wrapping peeking out of Yamaguchi’s bag. Kei usually received presents at lunch time, unless Yamaguchi was staying over at his house for dinner. 

Kei blinked, shoving his bag further up his shoulder. Now that he thought about it, why wasn’t Yamaguchi coming over? He usually invited himself, not that Kei ever turned him down. But not this year, deviating from his usual pattern of the last three. 

Kei wondered what changed. 

Class was boring, as usual, but Kei jotted down notes as he saw important. That buzzing was still beneath his skin, and he quietly tapped his feet under his desk to the beat of the hanging wall clock. Yamaguchi, a few seats ahead of him, looked to be similarly fidgety. Kei wondered if they were feeling something similar. 

They changed classrooms, once, but even that didn’t erase the warmth he felt. His stomach growled softly, and Kei longed for lunch. He caught Yamaguchi’s eyes, once, and the boy had smiled at him and rolled his eyes in response to something their teacher said, and Kei had smirked back. He felt a little more settled, after that. He knew he could wait until lunch.

“Let’s eat outside today, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi posed the suggestion, eyes on his school bag. The rest of the class was buzzing with conversation and the squeak of desks and chairs as they were configured to create larger surfaces to eat on. 

Kei shrugged and nodded. “Sure,” he added a beat later, because Yamaguchi had yet to look at him. 

Kei followed Yamaguchi outside towards a cluster of trees that were pretty popular around lunch time, but were surprisingly empty. Yamaguchi had approached him as soon as the lunch bell rang, however, so maybe that was why. 

Kei unwrapped his bento, but didn’t start eating, had tilted in Yamaguchi’s direction, waiting. Yamaguchi was being deliberately slow, unwrapping his bento and gently taking out his chopsticks and balancing them over the food before reaching into his bag and pulling out the shining wrapped gift and setting it in between them. Seeing the gift reminded Kei. 

“Why aren’t you coming over today?” he asked, startling Yamaguchi. The boy’s leg spazmed, and he nearly knocked over his lunch. 

“Oh, oops!” Yamaguchi sprang up and righted his lunch, making sure none of the food had been dislodged. “Um, I mean, I can, Tsukki! I just...”

Kei raised an eyebrow. Yamaguchi still wasn’t looking at him. He must have used up all of his eye-contact time this morning or something with how low his confidence seemed. 

“I’ll come over if you still want me to,” Yamaguchi eventually said. Kei had almost given up on receiving an actual answer and had started eating, his stomach too empty for him to wait much longer. 

Kei swallowed the bite in his mouth and lowered his chopsticks. “Yamaguchi, I know I don’t... say it as often--” Yamaguchi finally met his eyes, and he looked very confused as to where this was going, --“but I enjoy it, when we hang out. And I also...like you joining me. On my birthday.” Kei chose his words carefully.

Yamaguchi’s eyes blew wide open and he almost hit his lunch  _again_ with his knee as he threw his arms up and waved them about, muttering, “No, no, no. I. I know, Tsukki. I can tell, you don’t have to say it, I’ve know you long enough to read you. So you don’t have to worry about me thinking you don’t...well, you know.”

Kei gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Okay.”

Yamaguchi released a breath and finally dug into his lunch. “Good, okay,” he murmured to himself.

Yamaguchi didn’t put the present away, however. 

“So if that wasn’t it,” Kei started, then paused. “I mean, you usually don’t ask. Which is fine,” he assured. 

Yamaguchi tongued at his chopsticks, the bite from them long gone. “Things might be different this year, so I wanted it to be your decision.”

 _What would be--?_  Kei stared at Yamaguchi. It seemed his was bouncing in and out of confusion. He wished he’d just be given a straight answer, but he knew that wasn’t how Yamaguchi worked. 

A minute of silence passed between them. Yamaguchi seemed to be thinking hard about something, so Kei left him to it, even though the confusion was starting to irritate him. If Yamaguchi could just spit it out already--

“Tsukki I have something to tell you!” Yamaguchi suddenly shouted, head turned up to the sky, voice echoing around them. The leaves in the tree above them swayed in the wind, almost as if they’d been rustled by the words. 

Kei slowly raised a single eyebrow and shifted so that his whole body was turned towards Yamaguchi. He waited, as patiently as he could, and watched as Yamaguchi lowered his head and tucked his chin in, staring at his knees. His eyelids fluttered shut as he took in a deep breath, and they opened on the exhale.

Suddenly. determined eyes were on him, and Kei flinched back slightly in shock. 

“I like you.”

Kei’s heart skipped a beat. Heat suddenly rushed his cheeks and he brought a hand up to smother the lower half of his face. He didn’t know what kind of face he was making, but it was probably some stupid grin that would scare Yamaguchi. So he smothered it. 

“You’re so cool, Yamaguchi,” Kei breathed, staring into Yamaguchi’s eyes that were desperately trying to hang on to his. 

Yamaguchi’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. “I’m really, really trying to be,” he admitted. His hands were clenched into fists on his knees. “Is that...okay?” Apprehension began to seep into his body visibly. 

Kei nodded slowly, lowering his hand from his face. He knew his cheeks were still warm, but at least he’d gotten back control over his mouth. “You were worried I would be upset,” he stated, not a question.

“I thought of all possibilities. Every scenario,” Yamaguchi admitted. “I wanted to be prepared.”

“And were you?”

Yamaguchi smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He shook his head. “Nope. I don’t think I’ve ever been prepared for you, Tsukki.”

“You’re such a charmer, Yamaguchi,” Kei teased, feeling a little breathless. 

“I’m really not trying to be. I just wanted t-to confess now,” Yamaguchi admitted. His hands were beginning to uncurl from their tense positions. Kei was tempted to reach out and do it himself, but, baby steps. 

Something clicked in Kei’s brain. “So that’s what you meant, by it being different this year. If I had reacted...badly, you obviously wouldn’t have wanted to come over.”

“I just didn’t think you’d want me there if I...weirded you out now,” Yamaguchi corrected, giving Kei a lopsided smile. 

“You have always weirded me out, Yamaguchi,” Kei replied, a smile breaking through without his consent. “That’s why I like you, too.”

Yamaguchi’s entire form crumpled, like the weight of the world was gone. “Oh thank God,” he breathed. “I thought you might, but I didn’t  _know_ know, you know? And sometimes you’re hard to read, but other times it’s like reading a book so I thought  _maybe_ I’m on the wrong page. But I just  _had_ to tell you, Tsukki, it was eating me up inside.” Yamaguchi released a heavy breath. 

Kei reached over and grabbed Yamaguchi’s hand, pulling it away from where he’d been tangling it in his hair. He twined their fingers together loosely and let the hands fall into the grass between them, next to the wrapped gift. “I get it,” he simply said. 

Yamaguchi looked at their hands, a look of wonder on his face, before he giggled, hiding it behind his free hand. “I wasn’t sure I was going to have the courage to do it today since I wimped out right after practice, but I wanted to do it as soon as possible.”

Kei smirked. “Why? Got an expiration date or something?”

Yamaguchi looked up at him from beneath his lashes and fluttered them. “Kinda.  _My_ birthday.”

Kei tipped his head to the side, not quite following.

Yamaguchi rubbed his thumb over the back of Kei’s hand in soothing circles, trilling his fingers in a pattern. “I told you, Tsukki, I was going to use these forty-four days to become a better sixteen-year-old than you are. I’ve already done it. I got a boyfriend at fifteen while you didn’t get one until sixteen.”

Kei wanted to wipe that silly, satisfied grin off of Yamaguchi’s face. With his face. Specifically his lips, multiple times. 

But they were outside, at lunch time, other students milling around the campus and walking past every minute. So he’d just have to wait.

Instead, he said, “Oh, so I’m your boyfriend now?”

Yamaguchi’s face pinked, but he decided, “Yes,” very quickly with barely a quiver to his voice. He squeezed their hands and swung them a little to disconnect them, and they both brushed the present laying abandoned as they took their hands back.

“Guess you better save that for Christmas,” Kei decided, wanting to tease Yamaguchi as much as he had been teased. “Can’t get a much better present today anyway.”

“Tsu _kki_!” Yamaguchi squealed, and Kei imagined him burying his face in his arms. But he wasn’t looking because he’d turned his head away and up, hoping that the gusts of wind would cool his flaming face. 

 _I guess_ , Kei mused,  _Tuesdays aren’t_ all  _that bad_. 

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on my tumblr [kinghinatatobio](http://kinghinatatobio.tumblr.com) or on [twitter](http://twitter.com/kinghinatatobio)!


End file.
